Crabby

In the late afternoon, the sky was very deep blue.  The water was full of tree detritus, leaves, pine needles, chewed acorns, cherry stems,  cedar sprigs, and old catkins.  I found one of the black swallowtail caterpillars drowned.  I also found a little fiddler crab with a body no bigger than my thumbnail.  It pinched my palm hard enough to leave tiny punctures, and it left its big claw fastened to me.  I nevertheless released it to hike back downhill to the shoreline.  An ant rescued itself by crawling up my back and took a lot of persuading to leave me alone.  At least two monarch caterpillars were still feeding and, unlike the other critters, were willing to pose.  And that was all I saw.  

 

Bluebirds

A pair of bluebirds came for breakfast.  She tried to stuff her beak but kept dropping pieces.  I caught the crab and K kindly carried it down to the creek.  I also caught two frogs, repeatedly.  The Southwest wind sent lots of cumulus clouds past.  A fiery skipper joined the bees and wasps.  I fished a few beetles out of the water, but more mulch.  A bumblebee rescued itself.  

 

Crab

Fortunately, the sticky heat was frequently relieved by a breeze.  Lots of cumulus blew up from the Southwest.  The brown headed nuthatch was back  The dark spider posed like an orb weaver but what I could see of the web was just a tangle of threads with no pattern.  A couple of duskywings argued over the mountain mint.  I posed a drowned camel cricket.

I found no frogs in the pool today, but a mud crab instead.  It pinched my fingers and toes and got away into deep water.  Speaking of pinches, National Geographic introduced the Schmidt sting pain index.  A hummer made a brief visit to its feeder.  A male slaty skimmer used the smaller perch but spent much of the time hunting.  I saw a reddish dot in the sky and got a blurry shot of a Carolina saddleback dragonfly.  A titmouse saw something hair-raising.  Once again, a sprinkle made me take the camera inside.  

Thunderstorm

The suet-loving Carolina wren was up early.  A white breasted nuthatch repeatedly visited the suet, as did the Carolina wren.  Another fledgling cardinal showed up with papa bringing it food from the feeder.  A molting bluebird (a fledgling, I think) landed on the post, got a drink from the ant moat, inspected the empty barkbutter dish, then turned to the suet.  

A fresh search of the milkweed revealed two monarch caterpillars.  One was eating flowers and the other was hiding under a leaf.  When I checked the rue, the two minuscule black swallowtail caterpillars had more than doubled in size.  A wasp was prowling around the canna.  The little Argiope there looked about the same.  I couldn't find any caterpillars there, but bare stalks of ground cherry proved at least one was at work.  Something ate all the leaves off a beautyberry branch, leaving the berries alone.  

In the water I encountered the crab I spotted yesterday.  It tried to pinch my toes but its claws were too small.  Anyway, I caught it and set it on the patio as I thought it was a mud crab, not a swimmer.  It scuttled into an expansion joint but I hope it later made its way back downhill to the creek.  A dark skipper hunted for the few remaining mountain mint flowers.  I glimpsed a prince baskettail on patrol overhead.  

Dramatic clouds piled up to the South and West and the prophesied storm finally arrived around 6pm.  There wasn't a lot of lightning but plenty of rain fell.  By the time it stopped, the light was failing, but I saw the intrepid wren come back for more suet.  A downy followed.  A very wet cardinal landed on the seed feeder.  

Crab

A downy woodpecker and a Carolina wren shared a breakfast of suet.  A brown headed nuthatch chose seeds.  Two brown headed nuthatches clung to the chain from which the suet hung.  A blue jay bemoaned the empty barkbutter dish.  A fuzzy, molting bluebird settled for seeds.  A fledgling house finch carried on asking to be fed.  Another blue jay walked around the patio while a white breasted nuthatch peered around the post, then showed the house finches who was boss.  

The Argiope spiders waited in their webs, the smaller one reflected in the window.   A wasp was afloat on its back and I very carefully scooped it out of the water and left it to dry, but it never showed any sign of life.  A widow skimmer perched on the back of the bench to watch for flying food.  Later, a slaty skimmer and a blue dasher took up the work.  A skink came out of the vegetation and froze when it noticed me.  

I thought I saw something peculiar on the bottom of the pool.  It seemed to sprout appendages from both front and rear as it moved purposefully across the bottom.  I used a broom to scoop it onto the top step and discovered it was a small crab.  It had been moving crabwise and what I took for front and rear were the legs on its sides.  They were all legs, no paddles, so it wasn't a blue crab.  

In the front yard, skippers fed on the lantana.   Four full grown Argiope spiders waited for food to arrive.  I noticed a small paper wasp nest along with many mud dauber nests.  A couple of bald faced hornets prowled around the lantana.  

 

Too many photos

The young cardinal stood around on the roof of the feeder looking foolish.  Eventually it dropped down to the perch to eat.  Its beak was beginning to change color.  

On my way to pick figs, I discovered a life-and-death drama.  A full grown tobacco hornworm caterpillar was thrashing on a ground-cherry stalk, trying to keep a parasitoid tachinid fly from landing on it.  Two more caterpillars were hiding out on a nearby stalk, hoping the fly wouldn't notice them.  I thought the fly looked pretty distinctive -- pale gray with red fore and aft -- but I didn't find a clear match online.  

The Argiope spider was still guarding the figs.  Two red spotted purple butterflies flitted around the fermenting fruit.  Green June beetles, bald faced hornets, and cicada killers slurped up fig insides.  I think another tachinid fly was enjoying fig juice too.  The whole area smelled like a brewery.  Mosquitoes and other small biters were thick even though a strong breeze funneled through.  On the way back, I spotted a little green bee but all three caterpillars had disappeared. 

I was so ready for a swim to wash off my hot, stick, buggy skin, but the pool offered another round of critters.  Twice I rescued a mama wolf spider and had to chase her away from taking a third dip.  I also very carefully rescued a Polistes wasp like the one that stung me when I moved a birdhouse she was using.  And, I found a small crab on the bottom which I was able to catch.  K kindly took the pictures since I couldn't get my hand far enough from the lens.  It had some odd markings and folds on the back and was missing at least one leg on the left.  I wonder if it was a soft shell? The back leg was a claw, not a paddle, so it wasn't a blue crab.  

A blue dasher occupied the perch by the red aster and another was on the perch by my window.  But the perch by the hibiscus had a bar winged skimmer.  I think a saddlebags flew overhead.  Bees and wasps worked on the mountain mint.  A thread waisted wasp splooted on the concrete!  A snout butterfly flitted around my head and later a duskywing did the same.  I don't understand the attraction.  A fiery skipper stuck to the mountain mint like a sensible butterfly. 

A female hummer chased a male away from her juice.  Blue jays dropped in for barkbutter balls.  A mockingbird appeared to be miffed at having to wait for a turn, especially since the blue jay took all it could cram into its beak.  I heard raptor cries and looked up to see three circling.  

A skink chased another across the patio.  I only got a picture of the chaser.  Maybe its regrown tail made it grumpy?  It's amazing that they can regrow the tail but cannot re-pigment it.  Another with a similar tail climbed the step wall later.  I stopped taking pictures around 1pm because I had well over three hundred.  

Rain at last

The hibiscus exploded with flowers.  A late gladiolus spear blossomed.  Hopeful bluebirds wanted a handout.  I had put out some mealworms and the male scattered them everywhere.  Hummingbirds found the feeder.  A downy woodpecker inspected a pine tree. 

A glass snail wedged itself into the door frame.  There was a crab in the pool that I'm guessing escaped from a raccoon.  I rescued a robber fly and some other bugs.  A female blue dasher dragonfly paused a moment on the door to munch something it had caught.  Another dragonfly buzzed the pool too fast for me to identify.  A small skink crossed the patio. 

Insects fed like they knew the weather was changing.  I saw the mydas fly, a tiger swallowtail, a cabbage white, and I think a monarch.  Many honeybees and an assortment of other bees and wasps, including leafcutter bees and a great golden digger wasp, made the mountain mint move as though it itched. A small, green bee disappeared before I returned with the camera but then I found an ailanthus moth, Atteva aurea. 

The first thunderstorm finally arrived around 3pm.  A pine warbler showed up drenched for some suet.  It was followed by a wet Carolina wren.  The storm that came through next brought darkness along with heavy rain and noise.  There was a lull after 7pm, then another storm.  

Fireflies

Blue jay greed is bottomless.  They took far more than their fair share of bark butter.  A mockingbird posed on the pool railing.  I think it had come for hackberries.

Clouds looked threatening at times and kept the temperature down somewhat.  One of the three monarch chrysalises had a tear that I hope was a sign of the butterfly about to emerge.  I could see faint wing markings inside the chrysalis of the other two. The big carpenter bees got into aerial battles. 

Skinks enjoyed the afternoon heat.  A male goldfinch came for a drink.  I expect the female was incubating eggs.  A brown thrasher hunted in the grass, then went to the trees for berries.  The mockingbird came back.  A female downy woodpecker preferred bark butter.

When I walked down to the dock I surprised a lot of scurrying on the mud but everything quickly disappeared.  Several male amberwings found perches barely above water.  A female jumped on the male I was photographing.  She then dotted the water with eggs which minnows promptly gobbled.  A great blue heron flew past and landed on the dam.

I spotted a mahogany green jumper on a canna leaf.  A couple of Carolina wrens made a fuss over the bark butter.  The sand wasp was back.  I took pity on a monarch caterpillar and moved it to a fresh plant.  In the middle of a zoom meeting I realized there was a male kingfisher on a dock piling.  After the meeting, I went outside in the warm twilight and discovered that there were still plenty of fireflies.  I couldn't see them from indoors.

Still fairly cool

The sky was mostly cloudy without being completely overcast.  I found two black swallowtail caterpillars on the rue, one older than the other.  An adult black swallowtail enjoyed mountain mint.  The usual wasps were busy.  A blue dasher perched on the cinquefoil near the rue. Earlier I almost bumped into a skimmer on one of the perches. 

A hummer took exception to the presence of a squirrel on the post holding up her feeder.  Meanwhile, crows were screaming about a predator which might explain why the squirrel was pretending to be part of the post.   

Later, I came outside and immediately heard a kingfisher.  Hoping to see it, I nearly stepped on a skink.  A brown headed nuthatch popped up on the feeder hanger and we looked at each other.  I didn't want to scare it off and I think it hoped it was invisible. 

Summer vegetation obscured the lake but I was able to see turtles on their log. I found a small monarch caterpillar on the milkweed in the front yard.  The days of rain washed away the fig crop.  The ripening and rotting figs just disappeared.  There were still green figs, but when they ripen one-by-one, the birds get there first.  A green June beetle walked around on the driveway. 

A female downy woodpecker had bark butter for supper.  K discovered a bean-size crab in the pool and very kindly returned it to the creek. 

The sky cleared somewhat for sunset.  A bar of cloud glowed bright orange in the North.  I saw dragonflies and swallows swooping through the humid air but all I caught was a gull.

Hot again

The breeze and low humidity made 88° comfortable, but didn't do as much for insects.  A big darner passed overhead and caught me by surprise.  I glimpsed a couple of small butterflies and the ubiquitous cabbage white.  Bees and wasps were attracted to the rue. 
A starling got some bark butter balls.  A blue jay watched for an opening.  A crow preened in the oak.  The male bluebird found that the bathroom vent pipe made a good perch.  Then I saw the fledgling in the oak. 

Squirrels flirted in the oak. Hibiscus sprouts emerged and a sawfly was waiting.  Time for the neem oil. Swallows briefly danced in the air over the trees. 

I went down to the dock where I found ants had taken up housekeeping in the sink drain hole that was plugged with tree detritus.  A couple of small, dead, blue crabs floated by.  A yellow crowned night heron was at work on the dam.  Five egrets perched on the lake logs along with a couple of cormorants and turtles. 

Lightning

The Carolina wren was back for breakfast.  The hibiscus put on a show of five blossoms.  K hung a fresh feeder for the hummingbirds.  When we got home, they were enjoying it.  A buckeye joined the wasps on the mint, but not the mountain mint.  I also saw a tiger and a palamedes swallowtail.  A silver spotted skipper had flitted past at breakfast.  

 I rescued a mama spider and several crickets from the skimmer, which was full of dried oak leaves.  It looked like a squirrel's drey had come apart and pieces had fallen or been blown into the water.  A thumbnail size mud crab on the pool steps turned out to be deceased.  I imagine it escaped from a raccoon but then couldn't escape the water. A blue dasher and a great blue skimmer kept the mosquitoes away. 

A couple of blue jays tried to pull a bait and switch on me but just then K came out to tell me about picking figs ahead of the storm.  The bird I think is a Mississippi kite circled under the cloud cover.  A hummer packed on some calories.  Swallows flew high and chittered. 

Thunder growled for quite some time with no lightning that I could see.  Finally there was a flash and I counted to twelve before the thunder.  A couple of minutes later, I heard a hissing, sizzling sound as well as a tremendous bang simultaneously with the lightning flash.  I hustled inside and the rain just missed me.It came down hard with more thunder and lightning for at least an hour.  So I counted the day as done.

Last room temperature day

This week has been cool, partly because of rain, but it is warming now.  The sky is crystal blue and the sun feels intense.  There is only light air movement and the creek is a mirror.  A blue jay and a grackle visited the feeder, both perching on the side to keep from tripping the counterweight.  The grackle was still too heavy.  I don't know why the jay didn't stay.  The hummer visited the gladiolas but it clearly prefers the feeder.   The wren is singing away on a branch near the birdhouse.

Curiously few dragonflies are around and just cabbage butterflies.  Down on the dock, I saw several egrets, a cormorant, and a little green heron.  An eating size crab nibbled on a piling.  Thunderheads are building in the West but the rest of the sky is blue.  And, I thought I heard a cicada.  Is that possible in early June? 

A little cooler

The sky is patchy with more cloud than blue. A hummer and a titmouse were out early but nothing now except a fat bumblebee on the sunflowers. When I went to refill the hummingbird feeder, I overtightened the old brittle plastic, so I had to make a trip to the hardware store. The feeders these days are far too elaborate, which I suppose is an excuse to charge more.

It's breezy on the creek and I only saw one dragonfly. It zipped off leaving a faint impression of blue. The waterlogged plank that got snagged on a rope is an algae garden which a young crab is grazing.

A mockingbird flashed me on the patio and seems to be spending more time in the yard. The rabbit was nosing around the wooded area, amusingly backlit by the afternoon sun. Its ears glowed. One hummingbird has a perch about 20 feet away in direct flight from which it monitors the feeder for interlopers.

Still hot

I'm continuing to have computer problems which is why posts have been short.

A mockingbird came through yesterday and a blue jay just sat in the mulch for a while - cooler? Cardinals, house finches, chickadees and titmice at the feeder. The crow family hangs around in the trees. Lots of dragonfly species - a emerald green and black medium size (female Eastern Pondhawk Erythemis simplicicollis), a small rusty red (Eastern Amberwing Perithemis tenera), and a couple of large ones that go too fast to see clearly. The Pondhawk likes to perch on plants well away from the creek. The Amberwings hang out in the marsh grass - they're the ones I posted the other day mating. Today one shared a floating plank with a small blue crab.

The promised rain finally arrived with the evening and has cooled things down considerably. Perhaps that's why I can connect to the Internet now?